When Terre di mezzo asked me to draw my version of The Little Prince something lit up inside me.
Probably because this wonderful story accompanied me silently during my childhood. Each time I reread I saw a new point of view of my relationship between myself and other people.
As a parent, through the eyes of my little daughter, I began to feel again the innocence of The Little Prince and his new point of view about the world. And at the same time the absurd complexity of the adult’s world.
I had to admit that I had a panic feeling in front of the white sheet of paper. How did I dare to create a new version of the Saint-Exupéry drawings that were fixed in my memory?
To my big surprise, once I started drawing all the characters and the scenes came naturally, as if they were being waiting to appear since I was seven years old.
In my vision, The Little Prince is the image of innocence and of childhood. The child that we all have been, and the lost child that as adult we all search for.
For this reason The Little Prince is simply a child of our days, as many others, we can also think that he is dressed up as a superhero.
The aviator, who represents the adults, wants to be a tribute to Saint-Exupéry.
I interpreted those characters who live on the different planets in my own way. They are not simply humans, they are slightly different. Sometimes I choose to represent the humanised animals, as the king toad or the drunk monkey. Other times, I opted fot metaphorical figures, as the conceited man with the hat head. And also the fox, that in my version is nearly a dog.
It took me a long time to illustrate this book but it has been a wonderful journey. I look forward to sharing it with my readers!
Valeria Docampo